The Development of Tasha Yar

[Pauln6]

I think we can all agree that the implementation of Tasha Yar in season one was poor but if Denise had stuck around until Season three they might have got the hang of a female security chief. I was wondering where people think they might have gone with her development.

She could have been a flawed, layered character, repressing childhood and adult trauma, taking risks. You can see shades of NuBSG's Starbuck, but with a sanitised, Federation, family friendly gloss.

I think that Trek wasn't ready to really tackle rape trauma head on, but Yar and Troi could have shared regular therapy sessions as part of a season wide character arc, possibly even leading Troi to become more of a risk taker; there could have been a cool double act with Worf, taking it in turns to criticise each other for taking excessive risks, while subconsciously trying to impress each other. There could even have been a gradual deepening relationship with Geordi building on the Naked Now, overcoming the scar tissue of her past life.

What do other people think could have developed?

 

[Kilana2]

Yar had one few episodes to shine. They could have introduced Ishara earlier, having her interact with her sister. Tasha had a difficult past. They just scratched the surface of her character.
I'd also liked to have seen a follow-up episode to Yesterday's Enterprise. With Tasha and a little Sela.
I don't think that counseling sessions between Tasha and Deanna should have been the focus of later seasons in case Yar had stayed longer.
I'd like to have seen Tasha in casual wear, relaxing with the crew without the influence of strange substances.

 

[Pauln6]

Yar had one few episodes to shine. They could have introduced Ishara earlier, having her interact with her sister. Tasha had a difficult past. They just scratched the surface of her character.
I'd also liked to have seen a follow-up episode to Yesterday's Enterprise. With Tasha and a little Sela.
I don't think that counseling sessions between Tasha and Deanna should have been the focus of later seasons in case Yar had stayed longer.
I'd like to have seen Tasha in casual wear, relaxing with the crew without the influence of strange substances.

I was hoping that Sela had lied about Yar's fate and wished that the spies rescued from Romulus had included an older Yar who had been helping Spock and the Underground.

Ishara and Tasha together would have been cool.

 

[Mysterion]

She could have been a flawed, layered character, repressing childhood and adult trauma, taking risks. You can see shades of NuBSG's Starbuck, but with a sanitised, Federation, family friendly gloss.

Now you've got me imaging Katee Sackhoff as Tasha Yar. Damn that would be good.

 

[Paradise City]

I think the implementation of everyone was poor in that first season.

A hint of what Yar would've been like was Yesterday's Enterprise. And she was a sturdy and comfortable part of the crew in that.

There was alot of quite almost adult stuff in that season one; which was something Roddenberry pushed and something they toned down on in the seasons ahead.

 

[Therin of Andor]

I think we can all agree that the implementation of Tasha Yar in season one was poor

Denise's dismay was because the original premise of Macha Hernandez had the Security Chief be a significant presence on Away Missions. Picard was rarely to leave the ship, and there was supposed to be a strong dynamic between Riker and Hernandez (a Jenette Goldstein-type, inspired by the "Aliens" character). "Tasha" was the "In Thy Image" name for V'ger's probe (in both forms: the ball of pearlescent light and the one in Ilia's guise).

In the end, Yar's role seemed quite diminished to what she had been led to expect.

When Patrick Stewart was cast - and started getting off-ship stories - the dynamics of TNG changed. Prior to Stewart's casting, the young, dynamic "Ryker" character was thought of as the lead character, taking the concept of the Will Decker arc in "Phase II", preparing him for the possible departure of Kirk in Episode #14 of "Phase II".

Roddenberry told Will Wheaton and Jonathan Frakes that Wesley, Riker and Admiral Kirk were essentially the same character, shown at different points in their lives.

 

[Lance]

Another factor that seems to bear fruit is Worf.

We all know Worf was a late addition. In fact, he wasn't even in the original cast portraits done on the planet hell set before shooting the pilot. Bob Justman had this idea of a 'Klingon Marine' as part of the crew and Roddenberry was hesitant. There are rumours Michael Dorn wasn't even regular cast in "Encounter At Farpoint" originally, hence his non-appearance in the cast photocall, and that Worf was merely conceived as a kind of recurring character, but was bumped to regular following his strong performance on set, with Roddenberry seemingly impressed by Dorn's performance enough to renegotiate him as a regular and add his name to the main credits.

There seems to have been a bit of horse trading go on after that decision. Worf was written into scripts he wasn't originally down for. In many of these cases he got portrayed as muscle. In episodes like "Too Short A Season" and "Hide & Q" we see him essentially doing Tasha's job in the story. "H&Q" adds insult to injury for Denise Crosby by having Q send her to the penalty box without so much as being allowed to throw a punch; meanwhile, Worf gets to stay on the planet and do fight scenes. It feels odd that throughout season one this seems to keep continuing happening, almost as though somebody felt like, having created this Klingon warrior so late in the piece, Tasha Yar's role was redundant.

I feel this is false. I feel it was just poor thinking from a writing staff still finding their feet. But I wouldn't blame Crosby for, basically, seeing the tenth or eleventh time a script landed in her mailbox where Worf got to be brute force and Tasha was basically Uhura, standing at the horseshoe on the bridge pressing buttons and delivering trite hollow Trek-isms, before finally deciding enough is enough and quitting.

The reason I say it was short-sighted? Because I don't believe it needed to be either / or. There are other times, scant moments, where the two characters seem to coexist. Worf as a kind of deputy to Tasha as Chief could have worked, and I think over time we'd have seen that develop stronger. Certainly I can imagine by a hypothetical Season 3, the dynamic having been established and the writing staff comfortable enough to allow both characters to compliment each other. I just don't think anyone was that settled in season 1, and Crosby, to her later regret it appears, jumped ship far too soon.

 

[Bry_Sinclair]

Worf's development was never from him as Security Chief but rather him as a Klingon, all of which could've continued. From S2 onwards, he would've been at the Conn leaving Wesley to go between the aft science consoles and engineering (where he could be Geordi's apprentice) which would make more sense for the "boy genius". The dynamic between Worf and Yar could've been a great one to explore, also seeing if Yar and Data went anywhere. In S2, I could see her become a proper 'big sister' for Wesley and looking after him when Beverly was on Earth.

 

[Sakonna]

Ensign Ro loosely represents what I would have wanted them to do with Tasha, had she stayed. Developed Yar would be someone who viewed things with a more jaundiced eye than the others, having seen how easily and quickly the unnoticed corners of this galactic utopia could devolve into an apocalyptic hellscape.

Of course, the reality probably would have been something more like "Data/Yar/Worf Love Triangle!", or just a flood of ROTW's for her.

I was hoping that Sela had lied about Yar's fate and wished that the spies rescued from Romulus had included an older Yar who had been helping Spock and the Underground.

This is a fantastic idea. It's going in my head canon. It truly is one of the biggest missteps of the series that they gave her this meaningless death, somehow found a way to fix it and make it powerful and meaningful, and then undid that AGAIN in favor of some rape sex slave horror show.

 

[Sareesataka]

If Denise Crosby had stayed on, it would have meant less development time for someone else's character, most likely Worf. Or ideally, if Yar had stayed, maybe Wesley wouldn't have gotten as many stories, so I guess TNG fans had to endure all those insufferable epsiodes where Wesley saves the day, yet again.

 

[F. King Daniel]

Tasha had much better development in the novels, particularly Survivors, which features a different version of her homeworld and no sister, but is always the version I remember.

 

[Bry_Sinclair]

If Denise Crosby had stayed on, it would have meant less development time for someone else's character, most likely Worf. Or ideally, if Yar had stayed, maybe Wesley wouldn't have gotten as many stories, so I guess TNG fans had to endure all those insufferable epsiodes where Wesley saves the day, yet again.

Wesley might've left with Beverly at the end of Season 1, then after Pulsaki left at the end of Season 2, Doctor Selar stayed on as a main character.

 

[jaime]

Oddly, I think Tasha actually had as much to do as any of the cast apart from the nominal leads in that first year.

 

[Pauln6]

If Denise Crosby had stayed on, it would have meant less development time for someone else's character, most likely Worf. Or ideally, if Yar had stayed, maybe Wesley wouldn't have gotten as many stories, so I guess TNG fans had to endure all those insufferable epsiodes where Wesley saves the day, yet again.

I'm not sure this would have been true to any significant extent, since much of that development could have been in conjunction with any of the other characters.

After Yeoman Rand left TOS, Uhura became the principal female character but I'm not convinced that she benefitted that much from her 'promotion'. She took over Rand's role in City on the Edge of Forever, and Trouble with Tribbles but we can only speculate if Rand would have robbed us of the infamous kiss, or those heroic abs. Three of her best episodes also featured Yeoman Rand and included interaction with Yeoman Rand.

Similarly, apart from her intro episode and final episode, which were vehicles focused on her to showcase her relationship with Picard, Ro Laren was a great vehicle to showcase the wider cast.

 

[Arpy]

Of course, the reality probably would have been something more like "Data/Yar/Worf Love Triangle!", or just a flood of ROTW's for her.

Fan 1: Oh, come on, Data’s just the safe one she’s hiding with. The glorified sex toy. Worf challenges her to be her best self!
Fan 2: Worf’s hung up on K’Ehleyr, and he has a child to raise! Data is a person, thank you, and he has a lot to offer!

 

[Sareesataka]

I'm not sure this would have been true to any significant extent, since much of that development could have been in conjunction with any of the other characters.

After Yeoman Rand left TOS, Uhura became the principal female character but I'm not convinced that she benefitted that much from her 'promotion'. She took over Rand's role in City on the Edge of Forever, and Trouble with Tribbles but we can only speculate if Rand would have robbed us of the infamous kiss, or those heroic abs. Three of her best episodes also featured Yeoman Rand and included interaction with Yeoman Rand.

Similarly, apart from her intro episode and final episode, which were vehicles focused on her to showcase her relationship with Picard, Ro Laren was a great vehicle to showcase the wider cast.

Disagree. Had she stayed on the show, and even if Yar had only 1 or 2 character specific episodes and half a dozen B-stories per season, that's a lot of character development that went to other characters.

Comparing Uhura to Yar is apples and oranges. Different times, different show, and different writers with different agendas and politics, and different characters.

 

[Guy Gardener]

Humans are weak.

It's silly to paint Tasha as a thug who can over power anyone.

Judo seems perfect for weak humans to subdue armoured aliens 4 to 5 times physically stronger than than humans are.

 

[Bry_Sinclair]

Humans are weak.

It's silly to paint Tasha as a thug who can over power anyone.

Judo seems perfect for weak humans to subdue armoured aliens 4 to 5 times physically stronger than than humans are.

That's what phasers are for.

 

[Pauln6]

Disagree. Had she stayed on the show, and even if Yar had only 1 or 2 character specific episodes and half a dozen B-stories per season, that's a lot of character development that went to other characters.

Comparing Uhura to Yar is apples and oranges. Different times, different show, and different writers with different agendas and politics, and different characters.

Ro is a better example.

 

[JesterFace]

Does anyone think that Denise was a little bit hasty with her decision to leave if her character didn't get enough action in the first half of season 1?

But, her departure did give more depth to 'Yesterday's Enterprise' and maybe 'All Good Things...' too, so from that perspective it was a good call for the viewers.